Presser foot for sewing machines



2 192 Oct 7 G. s. GATCHELL PRESSER FOOT FOR SEWING MACHINES Filed June 29, 1926 Patented car. at, rear.

GEORGE S. GATGHELL, 0E ROSELLE PARK, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO THE SINGER MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF ELIZABETH. NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

. PRESSJER FOOT FOR SEWING.- MACHINES.

Application filed June 29; 1926. Serial N0. 119,296.

This invention relates to resser-feet for sewing machines and has for an object to provide a presser-foot which is specially adapted to cooperate with a four-motion feed-dog in uniformly feeding work having lumps or cross-seams, and which will control the work to prevent the skipping of stitches.

Many attempts have heretofore been made to providea Presser-foot for satisfactorily handling work of this character and while some of such attempts have met with a measure of success on work of light to medium thicknesses, none of the prior presser-feet with which ll am familiar will ride over heavy cross-seams with a uniform stitchlength feeding action and without assist ance by the operator in pulling on the work in rear of the sewing point.

Tn the usual felled seam, for example there are four thicknesses of material where the edges of the material interlock and twelve to sixteen thicknesses of material where cross-seamed portions overlap or interlock. Hence a thick lump is encountered at such a cross-seamand such lump is with considerable dificulty passed under presserfeet such as have heretofore been constructed.

To overcome the difficulty in question T have provided a presser-foot of novel construetion wherein the number of points of effective feeding contact or pressure upon the work have been increased and wherein nan increased number of efiective feeding contacts are maintained at the various stages where sticking of the work is likely to occur in sewing over a cross-seam. To this end there is provided a plurality of pivotally mounted sole-pieces, one in advance of the other, and the gist of the invention resides in supporting such sole-pieces, which I call secondary sole-pieces, upon I a pivotally mounted primary member which latter is formed with one or more work-engaging surfaces, preferably at the sides of the zone acted upon by the so-called secondary solepieces. By virtue of this construction, feeding pressures are maintained not only upon the stitched zone of the seam but also at the sides of such zone, when sewing over a crossscam; the efiective feeding pressures at the sides of the stitched zone aiding materially in carrying the lump of the cross-seam under the foot. a

form a work-receiving channel pivot the front secondary sole-piece so that it will yield bodily vertically relative to the primary member. It is further usually desirable when sewing felled seams to arrange the secondary sole-pieces in a longitudinally to extending channel in the primary sole-piece. such channel accommodating the felled Zone of the work. Further features of the invention will. in part, be obvious and, in part, he hereinafter described.

Tnthe accompanying drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation of a sewing. machine presser foot embodying the invention. Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the presser-foot. Figs. 3

and 4: are respectively; front and rear efevam tions of the resser-foot. Fig. 5 is a bottom plan View. Fig. 6 is a perspective view of the presser-foot shank. Fig. 7 is a perspective view of the primary sole-piece. Fig. 8

is a ers ective view of the forwardl 7 disposed secondary sole-piece. Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the rearwardly disposed secondary sole-piece. Fig. 10 is a plan view of the sewing machine throat-plate and feeddog. Fig. 11 is a side view similar to Fig. an

l showing a cross-seam passing under the forward end of the resser-foot and Fig. 12 is a similar view showing the cross-seam passing under the central portion of the foot.

According to the preferred embodiment as is pivotally mounted. The primary sole piece 10 comprises the spaced side-bars 11 having lower work-engaging faces 12. The

side-bars 11 have their up-turned toe-ends connected by a transverse spacer bar 1-3, the under upturned surface of which is spaced above the under surfaces of the side-bars to re, Fi s. 2 and 5. The side-bars 11 are connected at their rearward ends by the pivot-pin 14 which supports the rearwardly disposed or trailing secondary sole-piece 15. The side-1 bars 11 are formed in advance of the pivotpin 14 with vertical bearing slots 16 for' the alined pivot-extensions 17 at the opposite sides of the forwardly disposed or leading secondary sole-piece 18 having the needleholes 19. The open upper ends of the bearing slots 16' are closed by the down-turned tip-ends of the leaf-springs 20 which are secured to the side-bars 11 and permit the forwardly disposed secondary sole-piece 18 to yield bodily vertically relative to the primary sole-piece 10. The secondary sole-- pieces 15 and 18 are thus disposed in the recess or channelway 14 between the side-bars 11 of the primary sole-piece, and the leading secondary sole-piece 18 constitutes a yielding roof-section of said channelway. A leafspring 21'secured to the presser-foot shank 1 and hearing at its free end upon the toei end of the trailing secondarysole-piece 15 is provided for preventing the heel-end of such sole-piece from dropping'and interfering with withdrawal of the work from feedon-the-cylinder machines, when thepresserfoot is raised. The pivot-pins 17 are disposed in a line transverse to the direction of feed and substantially centrally ofthe transfrom the front and rear needles:

verse zone of the needles; i. e., equidistant This arrangement secures the most uniform and best control of the Work in the immediate transverse zone being stitched asthe needles are per to hold the work against rising with the heavily by the trailing secondary sole-piece sides ofithe felled zone.

sewing onto and bit of a cross-seam. The danger of skipped stitches due to failure of a needle to throw out a loop when sewing in a loose or vertically movable portion of material is thus reduced to a minimum.

. The operation of the resser-foot, embodying the invention in its preferred form, is substantially as follows: When sewing a vfe led seam for example, Fig. 1, the felled zone I) of the work a 15 receivedin the channelway between the side-bars 11 of the primary sole-piece 10 and is pressed upon rather l5 and more lightly, if at all, by the leading secondary sole-piece 18. The side-bars 11 press at their toe-ends upon the work at the Thus effective pressures are applied at three positions for the feed-dog? to work against; the leading secondary sole-piece 18 actingmainly as a stripneedles and thus insuring against the skipping o'f stitches. In Fig. 1 a cross-seam 0' presenting the usual lump d is shown approaching the foot.

As the cross-seam 0 passes under the-toeend of the foot it is seized by the front ends of the feed-dog sections and the primary sole-piece 10 is tilted sufficiently to admit the cross-seam 0-, without destroying the feeding pressures at the three positions heretofore referred to. As the lump 01 passes under the toe-end of the leading secondary sole-piece 18, the latter is more abruptly tilted, but as it does not press heavily upon the work at this time it does not seriously impede movement of the lump (1. At a slightly later stage, Fig. 11, the lump d in passing further under the leading secondary sole-piece 18 causes the latter to yield vertically relative to the primary sole-piece 11),

whereby an increased and effective feeding pressure of the sole-piece 18 is brought to ear. dlrectly upon said lump while effective feeding pressures are maintained by the primary sole-piece 10 at the sidesof the lump and by the trailing secondary sole-piece 15 in rear of the lump.- Thus feeding pressures are applied at four positions at this critical stage where resistance to passage of the cross-seam is usually, greatest.

As the lump d passes the leading secondary sole-piece. 18, the toe-end of the latter is tilted downwardly (Fig. 12) and holds the work closely under control to prevent skipping of stitches in the region immediately following the. cross-seam. Effective feeding pressures are still maintained at the sides of the lump by the primary sole-piece 10 as well as upon the felled zone by the secondary sole-pieces. Following the stage shown in Fig. 12 the lump d is readily carried under,

the trailing secondary sole-piece 15. which tilts'to maintain a feeding, pressure at its heel-end as its toe-end is passing onto the lump 1. When the cross-seam passes under the trailing secondary sole-piece 15 the pri mary'sole-piece tilts downwardly at its front end and feeding pressures at such endare resumed. l

While I havehshown and described in at tail a preferred embodiment of the invention, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to a device having thedetails of construction and precise mode of operation described. To handle seams of different character and work of various thicknesses, the

pressure applying sections of the foot may be varied in form and arrangement within the scope, of the invention, as will be understood bythose skilled in the art.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention, what I claim herein is: v 1. A sewing machine Presser-foot having a shank, a primary sole-piece pivotally mounted on said .shank and'having-a workengaging surface, and a plurality of seconda shank, a longitudinally channeled primary sole-piece pivotally mounted on said shank,

-- and a plurality of secondary sole-pieces pivotally mounted on said primary sole-piece and disposed one in advance of theother in the channelin said primary sole-piece.

4. A presser-foot having a shank, a primary sole-piece pivotally carried by said secondary sole-piece being bodily yieldable vertically relative to said side-bars.

6. A presser-foot having a shank and a solespiece pivotally carried by said shank,

' said sole-piece having in itsv under face a longitudinally extending channelway for re-.

ceiving a felled-seam, and a yielding roofsection disposed in said channelway and at all times above the work-engaging surfaces at the sides of the channelway in said solepiece.

7. A sewing machine presser-foot having a shank, a primary sole-piece pivotally mounted on said shank and comprising spaced side-bars rigidly connected together, and a plurality of secondary sole-pieces pivotally mounted on said primary solepiece one in advance of the other, the leading secondary sole-piece being bodily yieldable vertically relative to said primary sole-piece.

8. A presser-foot for sewing machines comprising a sole-piece having at its opposite sides outwardly extending pivot-pins rigid therewith, a su porting member having vertical bearing s ots for said pivot-pins, said slots having lower closed ends, and springs bearing down upon said pivotpins to normally press'them into. contact with the lower closed ends of said slots In testimony whereof, I have signed my name to this specification;

- GEORGE s. GATCHELL. 

